Abstract

Secure communications have become a requirement for virtually all kind of applications. Currently, two distant parties can generate shared random secret keys by using public key cryptography. However, quantum computing represents one of the greatest threats for the finite complexity of the mathematics behind public key cryptography. In contrast, Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) relies on properties of quantum mechanics, which enables eavesdropping detection and guarantees the security of the key. Among QKD systems, polarization encoded QKD has been successfully tested in laboratory experiments and recently demonstrated in closed environments. The main drawback of QKD is its high cost, which comes, among others, from: i) the requirements for the quantum transmitters and receivers; and ii) the need of carefully selecting the fibers supporting the quantum channel to minimize the environmental effects that could dramatically change the polarization state of photons. In this paper, we propose a Machine Learning (ML) -based polarization tracking and compensation that is able to keep shared secret key exchange to high rates even under large fiber stressing events. Exhaustive results using both synthetic and experimental data show remarkable performance, which can simplify the design of both quantum transmitter and receiver, as well as enable the use of aerial optical cables, thus reducing total QKD system cost.

Simple quantum key distribution with qubit-based synchronization and a self-compensating polarization encoder

Costantino Agnesi, Marco Avesani, Luca Calderaro, Andrea Stanco, Giulio Foletto, Mujtaba Zahidy, Alessia Scriminich, Francesco Vedovato, Giuseppe Vallone, and Paolo Villoresi
Optica 7(4) 284-290 (2020)

Performance of underwater quantum key distribution with polarization encoding

Shi-Cheng Zhao, Xin-Hong Han, Ya Xiao, Yuan Shen, Yong-Jian Gu, and Wen-Dong Li
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 36(5) 883-892 (2019)

Cost-Efficient Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Over WDM Networks

Yuan Cao, Yongli Zhao, Jianquan Wang, Xiaosong Yu, Zhangchao Ma, and Jie Zhang
J. Opt. Commun. Netw. 11(6) 285-298 (2019)

Silicon photonic transmitter for polarization-encoded quantum key distribution

Chaoxuan Ma, Wesley D. Sacher, Zhiyuan Tang, Jared C. Mikkelsen, Yisu Yang, Feihu Xu, Torrey Thiessen, Hoi-Kwong Lo, and Joyce K. S. Poon
Optica 3(11) 1274-1278 (2016)

Resource-effective quantum key distribution: a field trial in Padua city center

Marco Avesani, Luca Calderaro, Giulio Foletto, Costantino Agnesi, Francesco Picciariello, Francesco B. L. Santagiustina, Alessia Scriminich, Andrea Stanco, Francesco Vedovato, Mujtaba Zahidy, Giuseppe Vallone, and Paolo Villoresi
Opt. Lett. 46(12) 2848-2851 (2021)